ICE Hockey League: Vienna Capitals win high-scoring game against Innsbrucker Haie
Joel Lowry (13th), Nikolaus Hartl (22nd), Fabio Artner (23rd), Christof Kromp (46th) and Alex Wall (60th, EN) shoot the Viennese to a home win. Alex Dostie (10th) initially gave the guests the lead. A brace from Michael Huntebrinker (40th, 49th) is no longer enough to turn the tide.
Innsbruck started better
The sharks get off to a good start and are snappy from the start. In front of 1,000 spectators in the Steffl Arena, Tom McCollum made a few big saves in the Vienna goalkeeper’s first power play. Innsbruck convinces in penalty killing and a few minutes later strikes for the first time on the offensive.
Just when the Capitals were under pressure, defenseman Alex Wall lost the disc in his own half, Alex Dostie didn’t miss the chance and scored for the fifth time in the last five games.
However, the home side did not let themselves be deterred and only three minutes later delivered the perfect answer: after wonderful work from James Sheppard, Joel Lowry equalized from close range.
Double strike puts Vienna on the road to victory
In the middle third, it’s the first three minutes that pave the way for the “Caps” to victory. First, Hartl completed a nice attack via Matthew Neal and Patrick Antal to make it 2-1, before Artner deflected a long-range shot from VSV newcomer Anton Karlsson into the goal.
https://twitter.com/betathomeICE/status/1489707557358907392?s=20&t=C41qorGNfQtq4Ld0rNZFwg
The game becomes more heated as a result, with four two-minute penalties in the middle third alone. Again and again there are fights between the two teams. Shortly before the end of the second period, the Haie scored a goal: Michael Huntebrinker scored seven seconds before the half-time siren after a Magwood assist to make it 2:3.
Capitals take step towards playoffs
The game remains competitive in the final third. Christof Kromp scored in the 45th minute against his former club to make it 4:2, Huntebrinker brought the guests back after a shot from Lukas Bär. Haie top scorer Tim McGauley and Wien’s Kromp have another fight and each have to go to the penalty box for ten minutes.
Innsbruck struggles to equalize and takes goalie McCollum off the ice. However, 14 seconds before the end, Alex Wall put the lid on it with an empty net goal and fixed the 5:3 final score.
For the Vienna Capitals, beating a direct competitor for the playoffs late in the season is worth a lot. In the regular season of the ICE Hockey League, there are only seven regular rounds left to play, but all teams still have a few additional games to play due to the postponements of the game due to the corona.
There is a chance for revenge for Innsbruck on Saturday. The Haie face HC Znojmo away from home. The top game against table leaders EC Salzburg is on Sunday for the capital cities.